Smart phones, notebook computers, media players and other portable devices that connect to a network are susceptible to becoming infected by viruses and other agents that adversely affect performance. When infection occurs, the devices must be returned to the manufacturer or handled by a technician for possible repair. If repair is possible, the actions taken to return the devices to an operable state many times result in deleting important data, applications, and/or other information stored in internal memory circuits. These drawbacks translate into inconvenience and excessive costs to the user.